Noteworthy Reads

It's ridiculous how much I read when I should be doing something else.

Jar City A Rekjavik Thriller Arnaldur Indridason
aka The Inspector Iceland books
I love these books. There are five or six out right now and I have read four of them and I have to tell you, they are probably my favorite detective books. Although 'thriller' is in the title, I feel like that is misleading. This is a mystery. A dead body, maybe new, maybe sixty years old, and the story revolves around solving that mystery. There is no super serial killer and pressing deadline that compels you to turn the pages; it's a mystery well told with characters well developed that make you enjoy the story and want to continue reading. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy these books without a whole diatribe.

Let the Right One In Jonh Ajvide Lindqvist
I have watched both versions of this film and enjoyed them. It's a Swedish vampire child who becomes friends with a Swedish boy. Pretty simple. I finally checked the book out at the library. It was very good and extremely well told and complex. It read a lot like a Stephen King book but with a better ending than some of his. It was dark and emotional but also very very good.


Faithful Place Tana French
This is an Irish detective and so far is a stand-alone. The book is long but most of it is familial drama and memories and more touching aspects of an investigation than other thrillers. These seems to be French's type. I'm currently reading In the Woods by her and memories are a theme she uses often and pretty well. I'm not completely sold on her, but I like her enough to try another one of her books.


Professions for Women Virginia Woolf
I read this for my English class when we were covering the Modern Period and I really liked it. I was amazed at how much things have changed for women when I was reading this and yet how we as a gender are still not where we should be. It reminded me of a New Testament parable in that it was written for a specific purpose and crowd to answer a specific question, but can be applied to us today with the issues that women face now. I feel very strongly about women reading this and deciding what Angel they are fighting against. 


I have rad bunches more, but these are the ones that I remember just right now and have something to say about. My time now is mostly eaten by Isaiah for school, but I expect that will also be enjoyable.

Stuff Majzy Likes :

stealing my spot. The term 'seat-saved' means absolutely zip to her.
holding our hands. Just in her mouth with very tiny chewing. It's sweet.
carrying her leash in her mouth after she potties outside.
stealing our blankets off the bed while we are asleep and then make a little nest out of it at the foot of the bed.
waking up at four in the morning.
her little toys that look like water fowl.
on that note, also eating goose turds.
sticking her head into the shower while it's occupied.
chewing our shoes.
going to bed whenever she is sick of watching TV with us...around eight.

Majzy's Day Out

Today, we got Majzy's little grey coat back from the lady who embroidered it so that all the world can know that she is a girl with a job. She was pretty antsy all morning and while we were driving around, so I decided we would take a nice walk around the mall (it's cold and rainy here right now, so neither of us were interested in being outside too long.

She loved it. I have never seen anyone or thing so excited about being inside a mall. We did a few laps, stopped and chatted with several people. Since Majzy isn't going to be a leader dog, but more of a therapy animal, I have deemed it all right for people to come and pet her so long as she can sit nicely. When she jumps up, she doesn't get pet. She caught on to the pattern pretty quickly and was soon the best behaved little pup you ever did see.

She did have an accident on our way out of the mall after we had been there for about an hour. It seemed that her little tummy was upset and she just couldn't wait. It was right in front of this one gentleman's kiosk ,but he was very gracious and understanding and gave me paper towels and Windex so that it wouldn't be stinky and no one else had to mess with it besides me. She is just a baby after all, he said before telling me about his own little lab puppy.

This incident reminded me how necessary a little emergency bag is for such occasions, so we headed over to Target for some doggie diaper bag supplies. A small backpack (that she will be able to carry when she is big), Sham-wows, Lysol wipes, and some baking soda reinforced poop bags should do us just fine. I'll be able to put in a travel water bowl at some point (just a tupperware for now) and some treats.

Now she is asleep on her bed in the bedroom and she didn't waste any time in getting there. Big day for a little pup!

Noteworthy Reads

I have done a ton of reading here lately and almost all of them have just been awesome. I won't describe them or critique them, just read them.

Northanger Abby by Jane Austen
The Boy in the Suitcase by some Danish author (It was amazing!)
Turn of Mind by Alice LePlante
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (look for it in September)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I can't think of any others right now, but I am pretty sure there are. I will post any I think of. But these are great.

Watching X-Men.

We are starting with the first episode because we are right. So we are casting our ideal people if there was a fantasy perfect movie to be made.

by Ellen Page

Rogue

by Julia Roberts circa 1990

And Morph

by Chris Klein 

More to come later.

Happiest Days

So I hear a lot in people's reminiscing or on movies or in books or wherever there has ever been a girl in love with a boy that the wedding day was the happiest day of their life. And they even have pictures to prove it! Now people keep informing me that I am a newlywed and I should enjoy it while I can. While it is still new.

Maybe I have just been talking to weirdos or maybe I am the weirdo, but I don't really buy all that. I guess I am technically a newlywed being as we are closing in on only five months, but it doesn't really feel like it. It hasn't ever really felt like it. Does everyone feel that way or is it just because David and I were so intensely a part of each others crazy/bad sides that I feel like I have been with him forever. Not in a bored sort of way, just in a comfortable sort of way, an easy way.

Come to think of it, I have always felt incredibly easy around David (admittedly not when I was trying to avoid him in March of 2009, but a girl has to take some time to get a hold of herself). From the very beginning when he was one of two guys that I actually knew in the ward. On his first hometeaching visit to number 202, I felt like I could be comfortable with him. Scott as well, but with Scott, I could sense the effort we were both putting into it to make small talk and get to know each other. David was probably doing his fair share of work, but I didn't feel like I was. I honestly wanted to be around him, get to know him, sit quietly with him. Just comfortable. From day one.

And we are so well acquainted with one another's demons that while we may not be sure of what brand of toothpaste the other prefers (turns out we are both okay with Fresak-Ra (it's from Mexico (honeymoon toothpaste (we both forgot some))) we know each other. I honestly feel like we have been married forever.

Which in a weird God-eternity time-not line but...thing I guess we have. That sentence made sense when I first started it, but then my brain lost it. The point is, I truly feel like I have been with David forever. That he has always been with me.

That might explain why I don't understand the wedding day as the happiest day of our life thing. It was certainly the most important and anticipated day of my life thus far, but there was such a calm feeling - no, more than calm, just totally relaxed - to the day, that we were able to just enjoy it. Lost the temple recommend? We'll take care of it. Another bride running behind schedule, taking up the dressing room with my wedding dress in it? I'll wear what I have on; don't rush the poor girl. It's her wedding day. I honestly remember feeling like it was probably more crucial for her for things to go right and or it to be her happiest day than for me. I had what I needed.

It was certainly a funny day. Like I said, there were some setbacks, recommend, dressing room, David lost track of me inside the temple for about ten minutes, I hid his wedding ring in my shoe so that I didn't have to walk into the room holding it so that he didn't see that it was the One ring until I put it on his finger. The car in front of the temple making Josh mad. I forgot my shoelaces and had to wrestle my shoes with a sweet elderly lady, armed with safety pins. I stuffed myself with sushi. I hid my credit card in my bra and you can see it in some pictures at the reception. Notice omst of the funny things are my mishaps. David is much more prepared than I am.

It was a wonderful day, but I look back on it and, not to understate it's significance to me (because I cannot and won't try to express that hear) and it was just a day in the life of Kate and David. I had felt married to him for so long, this just made it official.

We have had such happy days after that too! Trying to not step on crabs while walking on a section of the white sand beaches of Mexico that was just riddled with little crab homes, watching a crazy white Mexican get pretty drunk and high[er]. Eating Papa John's on our new apartment floor after being in the car for 18 hours. Giggling during church, making a fort in the living room to watch cartoons. Not to mention all the unmentionable fun time.

I have never felt as happy and as safe as I feel when he just rests his hand on my back then falls asleep.

I don't mean this to be a sappy post (but since it is bear in mind the husband in question has been out of town all weekend), I was just thinking about it. About being happy. Happier. Happiest. How I could never have imagined a happiness so true a year and a half ago. I couldn't imagine happiness. I think that makes this all the more bright. It is almost like at least four day out of every seven every week are the happiest days of my life because I have a wonderful husband, job, and school situation, but at the very foundation it's because I am happy with myself.

Yeah, that's the point my mind has been trying to get at with this rambling diaryesque post. I was always happy with David, as a person and as my choice for lifetime and eternal companion, so every day with him was just wonderful, among the happiest of my life. But being happy with myself, loving myself, that is still a relatively new relationship (being just over a year now) and is more shocking to me than my life with David, who, like I already said, was the only one from the beginning.

I think I lost my point again. That's what happens when one rambles. But I guess the take home message would be that I love myself like I love my husband and everyday we are happier than sensible people have any right to be.

Saturday Of Awesome

The most important element of an awesome Saturday is definitely the weather, and yesterday's weather couldn't have been better. Just gorgeous.

David and I both woke up around seven, but I refused to get up until eight so David brought in his laptop and played Majesty after checking up on the daily deals at Woot. It was nice. Our bed is so comfortable! But the need for food drove me out of it and David and I enjoyed bowls of cereal from our awesome bags of the stuff.

We bummed around watching TV for a while until a couple that had asked for our help picking up and transporting a new crib for their adorable baby. It was painful to fill Clifford up with gas (we haven't put gas in him since we got to Michigan; he was still running on fumes from our trip up here in January) but we decided that it was just like we spent twenty dollars on gas each month since we have been here and not eighty all at once.

After that we went searching for a little ice cream and donut shop called Washtenaw Dairy. Oh, Washtenaw Dairy. It was amazing. The people were super nice. The owner was the one serving us, a stout older man. He gave us samples and chatted with us and teased me because I couldn't make up my mind. He gave us the donuts for "two for one, two for one" which means we only spent fifty cents on four donuts. For two heaping ice cream cones and four donuts, he only charged us six dollars. So I put six dollars in the tip jar.

David and I took in the nice weather with a walk around the block, eating our ice cream and checking out the houses. I love how every place has their own feel when it comes to how the houses are built. Their own special look. It was fun. I really liked this one crazy orange house, but David said it was red. We had to stop, take off our sunglasses and examine it. I still thought it was orange and he still thought it was red. I guess sometimes in marriage you just agree to disagree.

After our ice cream was all gone, we went down to Lowe's to check out the two for one (I know! We had a real day of deals) started tomatoes and peppers. We wandered around the lawn and garden section for a good hour and ended up buying a strawberry plant (our planter is coming in the mail tomorrow!) and two tomatoes. We came home and started our garden. Which only consisted of a planter with two tomatoes and another planter with a few squash seeds. I just don't believe that seeds work even though I know they do, so I put in too many just in case.

We had a dinner of bachelor food (mac and cheese fortified with bacon in a peppery chili sauce) and watched TV for a while, then went out again to check out some garden stuff. By this time it was inching towards six, but it was still plenty bright out and very nice. In the truck again ( just because it felt so good to be driving him again) we started to pull out of our little parking lot in front of our building when David spotted something of interest by the dumpster.

"You see that?"
"Yup. Go and get it."'

David hopped out and tossed and awesome padded bench into the back. It is red with a floral pattern and the most comfortable thing I have ever used as a foot rest. I love it.

We then stopped by JoAnn's to check out their fabrics because the plan is to recover both couch and bench this summer. We wandered around feeling fabrics and then yarns. I really have to go back and pick up my crocheting. It was fun.

Then we wandered back to Lowe's and ended up with a purple foxglove, a yellow daffodil, a few violet hyacinths, and a bleeding heart. Of course that meant we got more soil and a couple more planters as well. It was a little painful to see the price on the screen, but we knew that we had carefully picked out our favorites and made sure that if we took care of them, they should come back, year after year. An investment.

David ran off to Kroger while I brought up the flowers and soil, very excited. I got straight to work. Now it looks amazing. I love it. David is really excited for the vegetables, but the flowers are my pet project. I love them so much.

We finished up our happy little Saturday with some Better Off Ted and internet.

All in all, favorite Saturday of spring.